Girls Lacrosse: Garnet Valley will put seed aside as it aims for title

Garnet Valley juniors Ashley Pyle and Coley Ricci think the defending state champion Jaguars will be motivated to prove that they should have been awarded the top seed for the District One tourney. (Times staff / COLIN KERRIGAN)

CONCORD -- It's a subject that most in the Garnet Valley girls put on a brave face about, but it's clear that what's perceived as a slight will be what head coach Kate Henwood uses as a motivational tool for the defending state champs as they enter the District One tournament.

Despite a great regular season that saw them finish 17-1 -- a mark that included a clean 11-0 sweep of the best league in the state and signature nonleague wins over Archbishop Carroll and Maryland power Our Lady of Good Counsel -- Garnet Valley is seeded No. 2 in its district behind Ches-Mont League champion Great Valley. That apparent snub is being used as the team's rallying cry as it tries to recreate the magic from a year ago.

"I think it's going to help us being the second seed instead of the first, because we want to work that much harder to get ahead of everyone else because they're doubting us," said junior Ashley Pyle, who found the back of the net 38 times in the regular season.

Pyle's teammate, junior defender Coley Ricci, admitted that seeing the Patriots ahead of her team was disappointing, but after being the No. 3 seed a year ago, seeds aren't something that faze the Jaguars too much.

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"We're just going to take it and run with it," Ricci said. "It's not a big deal. It bothered us, but we're just going to take it."

The Jaguars lead a pack of four Central League teams in the top five, seven in the top 10 and eight in the 32-team tournament. With the league's depth clearly shining through in the District One committee's selections, Pyle feels that the in-league competition Garnet Valley faced all year helped sharpen the Jaguars' edge.

"It's definitely going to help being in this competitive of a league," Pyle said, "to play those higher-end teams. All of the teams that we've played so far are really going to help us."

Weather permitting, Garnet Valley's road back to Hershey starts today when it hosts No. 31 Perkiomen Valley at 4 p.m. The Jaguars aren't the lone state title contenders from Delco, though.

No. 3 Radnor is a team few want to see after the Red Raiders finished the season with eight wins in their last nine games, including convincing wins over No. 4 Harriton, No. 5 Springfield, No. 7 Strath Haven, No. 17 Haverford, No. 26 Penncrest, Inter-Ac leader Episcopal Academy, and Catholic League favorite Archbishop Carroll. Natalie Miller and her 54 regular-season goals lead a red-hot attack that's netted double-digit goals in those nine games into a battle with No. 30 Wissahickon.

No. 5 Springfield hosts No. 28 Pennsbury as the Cougars attempt to make it back to the state tournament. They found themselves in the win column in 13 of their last 15 games, with their only losses coming to the Jaguars and Red Raiders. All-Delcos Maddy Lynch (57 goals) and Alex Poplawski (78 points) can strike at any time.

After a disastrous start to the year with a front-loaded schedule, No. 7 Strath Haven bounced back by claiming 10 of its last 12 games, including the final five. Morgan Glassford had 16 goals in that five-game span, and a strong defense led by Kelly Molloy and Lexi Mazur could have the Panthers making late noise.

Strath Haven draws Media rival No. 26 Penncrest, which claimed three of its final five games to bolster its résumé. Christy Bond found the back of the cage 15 times in those five games, but she'll need help if the Lions want to reverse a 14-7 regular-season loss to the Panthers.

No. 17 Haverford and its unstoppable scoring machine, All-Delco Katrina Geiger, travel to No. 16 Villa Maria in what should be a nailbiter. Geiger has 113 goals this year, which would give her the Delco scoring lead without a single assist, and she hasn't scored fewer than four goals in a single game this year.

However, the Fords limp into the postseason with four straight losses and five in their past seven, and they'll need big performances from the likes of Amanda Case (58 goals), Olivia Martin (33 goals) and goalie Nikki Harnwell (129 saves) to stick around.